Treasuring the Precious Moments With Your Children

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Do you ever wish you could freeze the moments of time you have with your family? Although we cannot stop time, we can slow down our days and learn how to treasure the precious moments we have with our children.

I have to confess that I am a die hard Mama Mia fan. When a fellow blogger shared one of the songs with a reminder to be mindful of the precious moments we have with our children- it caught my attention.

That doesn’t happen very often as we live thousands of miles apart, on two different continents, and I cannot see her very often. We treasure the rare moments we have together.

I was in England when the movie came out and we went to see it together. When this song started she reached out and held my hand. It was a tender moment of connection between two moms who had experienced the truth captured by the lyrics.

“Slipping through my fingers all the time- I try to capture every minute -The feeling in it”

“Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table – Barely awake I let precious time go by”

“Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture and save it from the funny tricks of time.”

If only we could freeze the moments of time

Do you ever wish you could freeze the moments of time you have with your children? If only we could! Still although we cannot stop time, we can slow down our days and learn how to treasure the precious moments we have together.

Life can get really busy for parents. It is all too easy to find yourself just going through the motions, moving mindlessly from one task to another, until you fall exhausted into your bed.

Then the next day you drag yourself out of bed only to do it all again. Does that sound familiar? If this describes your life could I encourage you to stop right now and s-l-o-w down your life.

Enjoy the time you have right now

I have found that one of the most effective ways to do this is to start living in the present.

Instead of focusing on all the things you need to do, put them aside and start enjoying the now with your children.

I know – it’s a lot easier said than done.

We don’t live in a culture that encourages this kind of mindfulness. Still if you can mange it even for a few moments a day you will see a difference in your connection with your children.

Treasuring the Precious Moments With Your Children

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Disconnect from technology – turn off your phone, or the computer, or the television just for a little while. No matter how useful they are technology will distract us from being present with our children. Who, by the way, will notice when we are distracted.

Silence the demands of the to do list by setting it aside- realize that what you have accomplished so far is good enough for today. Then go and enjoy some time with your children. I must confess as a recovering perfectionist I continue to struggle to put this idea into practice. Still I have learned that silencing the list can be very liberating.

Take the time to really notice your children while they are still with you. Cherish every stage of childhood. Be conscious of the dimples that appear when your baby smiles at you, or how your preschooler’s hand feels in yours, the funny faces your child makes when they are concentrating, or how your teenage daughter looks when talking animatedly about her day.

Treasure the moments you have together – as much as possible put aside distraction and simply enjoy what you are doing together in the moment.

If you enjoy writing use a journal to create a record of your days with your children. Write about the special moments you have with your children; record the funny and insightful things they say; describe the way they looked. I love this One Line A Day Journal for busy parents or this classic Moleskin Journal for those who like to write more. One day these journal entries will hold a treasure trove of memories both for you and your children.

My friend and I were just talking about this the other day. Our kids are only with us for a short time. It’s not fair! We only have them as little kids for a few years, then the rest of the time they’re adults. I need to re-evaluate how I’m using my time and where my priorities lie. Great advice. Thank you for the reminder.Rochelle recently posted…15 Killer Headline Resources

Switching off technology is definitely my biggest problem, the phone especially, for my husband it’s the TV. It’s something that I have been thinking about a lot lately and I know it’s time to start purposely switching off at set times and really soaking up this fleeting time with my babies. Try will be grown and flying the nest sooner than I think!

I hear you! It’s the Internet for me, there are so many interesting things to see. I’m thinking about trying a tech free day each week. It may take me a while to work up to that! Thanks for stopping by 🙂Sharon Harding recently posted…Treasuring the Precious Moments With Your Children

I found your article from a link on another article you had written on children in church. I enjoyed both of these articles and totally agree with both of them. I am not a young mother with little ones any longer but I do have grandchildren, 11 of them and two more on the way. I find I have to purposely slow down and pay attention when the grandkids are here. I often regret not doing this when my kids where little. I guess I just wanted to add my two cents concerning grandparents and that your article is relevant to us too!

Thanks for your comment Debbie. I’m glad you found your way here. Grandparents have such an important role to play in children’s lives and yes much of what I write is relevant for them too. I’m hoping to write some posts specifically for grandparents at some point. Do you have any ideas for topics?

Awesome tips. I’m easily distracted by my phone and I know that is something I really need to work on. Going to have to set myself some tough boundaries I think!EssentiallyJess recently posted…A Picture Needs a Thousand Words

Great post Sharon and thanks for visiting my little site. If I’m honest, I think blogging impacts on me being in the NOW with my kids, but it also provides me with a creative outlet that I need and helps me access better parenting tips! I just need a better balance for our family.

I think almost every parent struggles with finding balance for their family. I find it is way too easy to disappear into my computer. I don’t mean to, but the time just gets eaten up when I’m on-line or blogging. I am trying to set some limits on my computer use, but it is challenging at times.

When I first saw the movie and heard the song, I was sitting on the couch with my toddler and baby, watching them, silent tears running down my face. Even then I appreciated how precious the time is. We can’t remember everything. But we can cherish it 🙂Francesca recently posted…Pearlie Books, MissyMoo1 and Twitter

Your post reflects exactly the reason I’ve recently made the decision to cease my business and be a stay at home mum. The time I spent on my business, thinking about my business and worrying about my business was time taken away from fully focussing on my son and I hated it. I do have to remind myself often to focus on the present but I with the change this will start to become easier.Eva @ The Multitasking Mummy recently posted…Mummy Mondays – Cars Birthday Party Ideas

This is such a lovely post. It actually almost made me cry … yes, I do wish I could freeze moments in time with my children! I feel like I turned my back for a moment and when I turned around again my son wasn’t a little boy anymore. Time seems to expands and contract when you’re a mother, doesn’t it? some days seem to go on forever but on the other hand, years pass by in the blink of an eye. We’re so lucky we live in the era we do so we can document our memories with photos and videos. I like your tip about writing down the funny and insightful things our children say. We think at the time that we’re going to remember them forever, but life is busy and if we don’t write them down we do forget, don’t we, despite or best intentions!Lizzy Allan recently posted…The best time to read is now!

Thank you Lizzy. One of my regrets is that I didn’t write down more memories. I know I have lost so many things as the years have gone by. Thank goodness for photographs. I love the pictures you posted of your children reading.Sharon Harding recently posted…Good Reads: Can You Hear It?

A fantastic reminder to slow down. I am constantly reminding myself to just sit and enjoy doing nothing with the girls instead of stressing about what need to be done. You’re absolutely right, time flashes by so fast and I often wonder, what happened to my little boy(mr almost 21).Alicia recently posted…A sculpture

Hi there, I appreciate this post. I am a new mother…..sort of.I am a 67 year old great grandmother raising a soon to be 4 year old. My great grandson. Things are so different from when I raised my kids and had grandkids living here. A different world. Technology is fun and teaches him a lot but……we do the outdoor things as much as possible. Time spent with people is what he wants. Thats what he gets…….I hope it works
Janice

Hi Janice, so glad you came by. What a gift you are to your great grandson. I am so glad you are there for him. Things have changed so much in the last 20 years haven’t they? Still I think you are on the right track when you spend time with your great grandson. Children have always need lots of time with people who love them and they always will. That’s one thing that will never change 🙂Sharon Harding recently posted…Good Reads: Can You Hear It?

It’s a very poignant post. I had my only child rather late in life, so I see some of my friends sending their children off to college while mine starts second grade. I work full time, so I am really trying to make our time together count. Thanks for another reminder to slow down, not sweat small stuff and enjoy this time when I am still the most important person to her.Natalie recently posted…Australia for Elementary School Kids–Books and Activities

I’m a new host at the After School Linky and will be featuring this post this week! I’ve also pinned it to our pin board. You can hop on over to The Measured Mom to check it out – hope to see you linking up again!Anna@The Measured Mom recently posted…Getting to know The Measured Mom

[…] I have found that one of the most effective ways to enjoy your children is to start living in the present. Instead of focusing on all the things you need to do, learn how to put them aside and start enjoying the now with your children. I give some tips for doing this here. […]